Superstition

Superstition- a widely held but unjustified belief in supernatural causation leading to certain consequences of an action or event, or a practice based on such a belief.

Peacock feathers, dropping unused make-up, and wearing the color blue are only a few of the many theater superstitions that performers hold in a very real light. In the past week I've been talking to Mr. Mereu about things to avoid saying or doing in a theater as to not bring bad luck in. The superstitions that we have been talking about may seem a bit silly to outsiders, yet the people working on stage take them very seriously. Here are some of my favorite superstitions:

credit to: http://www.blurb.com/b/589370-macbeth

Macbeth:

Known as one of the bloodiest plays written by Shakespeare, this play was used by theaters in an older time to keep their theater afloat. If theaters weren't bringing enough money in, they would run Macbeth, since it was so gory many people would come to see it. Sometimes it would work, yet most times the theater would soon go under. Theater in our time now refuse to run Macbeth, and it's seen as a bad omen to even say the word inside of a theater, usually referring to the play as written by the Bard.  Saying Macbeth in a theater is seen as welcoming bad luck and death into the theater, also foreseeing that your theater will soon go under.

http://www.technicaltheatreawards.com/flys/

 Whistling:

Theaters have sets of which they pull up into the rafters after they are done with that set; the people that do this are called riggers. The riggers that worked on these stages were normally sailors, who would come back off seas and look for small jobs that they could do before they set off again. Sailors knew how to tie many knots, since they had the time on ships to learn and build this skill, so theaters looked to welcome them in as riggers. They also had a skill with whistling. Sailors who had the job of tying down sails learned codes in whistling to be heard over the roar of the sea, making sure to be heard to signal the untying and moving of the sails. Well, once these sailors came onto the stage, they still held onto the system of whistles that they used on ships. Whistling in a theater is bad luck because of the automatic response of untying knots for the sailors. There was an instance where a man was whistling while the sailors were up in the rafters, and he hit one of the notes that signaled the sailor to untie the knot he was manning, dropping the set and crushing the man to death.

http://coolspotters.com/venues/palace-theatre-cleveland-oh

The Ghost Light:

One of my favorite theater superstitions is called the ghost light. When a theater is empty, and all the lights are out, a single light is kept light up on the apron of the stage. This light is normally a lamp, keeping the theater light up just enough so people can see where they are going so they don't fall of the stage. The thought of keeping a light on is so people don't get hurt, but also to keep the ghost of past performers out. Ghost will come out in an unlit theater, taking up residence and reliving their deaths onstage no matter if people come back or not. If the lights are out, the theater is open game for the ghost and even if they are turned back on, they wont leave. The ghost take it back as their own stage, becoming jealous of the people on stage and tormenting them and ruining their plays.

These are just a few of the theater superstitions, and there are many more from where these came. But for now just remember, that if you're in a theater, don't whistle and always leave the lights on.